SG/A/868
BIO/3560
4 March 2004

Secretary-General Appoints Elisabeth Lindenmayer of France as Assistant Secretary-General  to Post  of Deputy Chef de Cabinet

The Secretary-General today announced the appointment of Elisabeth Lindenmayer of France as Assistant Secretary-General to the post of Deputy Chef de Cabinet in the Executive Office of the Secretary-General.

Ms. Lindenmayer has been serving as Executive Assistant to the Secretary-General since 1997. Prior to joining the Executive Office of the Secretary-General, Ms. Lindenmayer had an extensive career in the Department of Peacekeeping Operations, where she served in several senior positions. Upon joining that Department in 1992, Ms. Lindenmayer first provided political back-up and support from United Nations Headquarters to the Iraq-Kuwait United Nations Observation Mission (UNIKOM) and later on (from 1992-1994) to the United Nations Operations in Somalia (UNOSOM I, UNITAF Task Force and UNOSOM II). Ms. Lindenmayer subsequently provided support to the United Nations Mission in Rwanda (UNAMIR) (from 1994-1996). She also assumed responsibilities for the Great Lakes Region, in particular Burundi and Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of Congo).

Prior to joining the Peacekeeping Department, Ms. Lindenmayer was assigned to the Office of Programme Planning, Budget and Finance as a Budget Officer. Two years later she was appointed Special Assistant to the Controller. In that capacity, she carried out a variety of assignments related to the financial crisis of the United Nations. In the aftermath of the 1991 Gulf War, she travelled to Baghdad and Vienna as part of the United Nations team involved in negotiations with the Government of Iraq for the establishment of the “oil-for-food” programme.

Ms. Lindenmayer started her United Nations career in 1977 in the Office of Human Resources Management, where she held a variety of positions including the post of Special Assistant to the then Assistant Secretary-General for Personnel Services.

Ms. Lindenmayer holds several degrees from the University of Paris-Sorbonne, the University of Geneva, and New York University. She is married and has two children.

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